Norfolk Broads Holiday

Last week we managed to grab a few days away on one of our own hire boats.  We chose Royall Oak as this is our favourite boat.  The weather was scorching and couldn’t be better. This was Raven’s first holiday afloat as Tillie is an old ‘sea dog’ already!  I hope you like the pictures.

 

                 Royall Oak moored at Coltishall                                 Raven cooling off in the long grass

                    Another boat of our fleet Royall Commander 2                      Approaching Horning

 

            Tillie & Raven looking out over Ludham marshes                                   Nigel sailing is gun punt ‘Shoveler’

A couple of examples of Norfolk drainage mills

                                    Approaching Barton Broad                                          Nigel relaxing at Barton Staithe

 

                           Exploring narrower waterways in Shoveler                              Hunsett Mill on the River Ant

               A boat ‘shooting’ the very low Potter Heigham Bridge                                Tillie & Raven in Shoveler

                                  Raven hoping to enjoy a pub lunch                              The Pleasure Boat Inn garden at Hickling

                                             Aboard Shoveler again                   Overlooking Herbert Woods Boatyard Potter Heigham at sunset

                                           The Norfolk Wherry ‘Albion’                                    Walking near South Walsham marshes

For a more detailed write up, Nigel has blogged about our holiday from the perspective of his boat ‘Shoveler’ over on the Royalls Boatyard Blog

Chicken coops and beehives

Yesterday saw the arrival of one of my birthday presents from Nigel. Here he is assembling all the pieces:

Yes it is my new ‘made from recycled plastic chicken coop’.  It is made by a company called Green Frog Designs.  I have been looking for a new chicken coop  but preferably not one made out of wood to cut down on maintenance and one that was more hygienic and easier to clean and also one that was easily moveable.  It didn’t take that long to put together and here is the finished article:

I think you will agree this is a vast improvement on my current wooden house pictured below:

Before, the chickens were in a permanent run, being let out on the grass but the temporary fencing had to be always linked up to the old run as my original house was built in situ and couldn’t be moved.  I had fun and games last night seeing if the chickens would put themselves to bed.  One persistent old girl kept escaping and heading off back to the old house, 2 had sensibly gone to bed by themselves in their new des res but the other four I chased round for ages to catch them and put them away.  I shut the pop hole up last night just so they would get used to being in there but usually I would have left it open.  I am well pleased with the new house and it will be nicer for the hens to be moved about on fresh grass in the summer.

We bought my bees back from Ranworth on Tuesday night where they had been for the oil seed rape.   Both my hives are very weak this year and I wasn’t expecting any honey from the rape this year unlike last year where I got about 60lbs, but I thought visiting the rape fields may build them up a little.  One of the hives has built up nicely but the other one is still very small and my suspicions were confirmed when I opened them up yesterday and spotted the dreaded varroa mite.  As there are no honey supers on this hive I quickly put some thymol treatment in and hope I can catch it in time.  The varroa mite has had a major impact on bee keeping here in the UK and is becoming a huge problem especially as they are now becoming resistant to the treatment.  Later in the year I may get some honey off the strong colony I have, we shall just have to wait and see.  Tony, a fellow bee keeping friend who also took his bees to Ranworth managed to harvest 115lbs of honey – mind you he has been keeping bees for about 40 years and as I have only been doing it for about 8 years, I am still a novice.

All my beehives were built by Nigel, the first is a WBC style hive and the second is a Cottage style hive.

Exhausting work

For  popular greyhounds it is exhausting work meeting your adoring public so plenty of naps are in order between this busy life.

Starring in this photo shoot – top left photo Gemma & Zonda, top right Gemma & Zonda with Tillie on the left, bottom left on top of shelter Tillie 2 and bottom right Tillie again with Raven at the back.

9 miles from Aylsham to Wroxham

  

Yesterday saw us complete our 9 mile sponsored walk at the start of Greyhound Awareness Week and to raise money for Action for Greyhounds UK.

I had been keeping a careful eye on the weather for the last week and realised that Sunday was going to be a scorcher so we decided to delay the start until the afternoon.  After getting a lift from Annie from Action for Greyhounds in the back of her greyhound bus we arrived already hot and bothered in the sweltering heat in Aylsham at the Bure Valley Railway station.  We set off at 3.40pm with Annie, her little boy and two of her greyhounds for company until we hit the Cromer road where you take your life into your hands crossing the busy Sunday afternoon traffic heading for the coast.  This is the only grim bit of the public footpath, the railway line goes under the road through a tunnel and we often wonder why they didn’t make the tunnel wider and put the footpath under the road as well.  We waved goodbye to Annie and set off in earnest with Tillie and Raven plodding on ahead off lead.  The oil seed rape was out in brilliant yellow bloom and you could really smell the flowers.  The sun however was relentless and the two dogs soon became very hot and panting heavily.  After about a mile we sought refuge under a shady tree for drinks and a rest.  I think the temperature was in the high 20’s and there was not a breath of wind.  I was worried about doing the other 8 miles and contemplated turning back and attempting it on a cooler evening but Nigel said he would go on ahead as he thought there might be a cool stream up ahead and sure enough he returned very quickly and reported back that there was.  We quickly diverted off the track and down some steps to a bubbling clear stream that was shallow and with a pebbly bottom.  We all stood in the cooling waters and I soaked the dogs head to toe and thoroughly drenched them with water whereupon they immediately shook all over us.  After sitting on the bank with our legs dangling in the water to cool off, we eventually roused ourselves to continue the walk.  We have done this walk numerous times before and it normally takes us about 3 hours so at our present rate of knots of about 1 mile an hour it didn’t look like we would be home before midnight.  However the fierceness of the sun had now subsided and some clouds were scudding across the sky so we were able to plug on.  After several more short stops for drinks we reached Buxton station about half way and stopped properly for tea in the shade of a hedge by the side of a wheat field. 

Tillie and Raven enjoyed yet more drink and some biscuits and a lovely lie down in the cool long grass.  We had packed a carton of strawberries to eat and on retrieval from the rucksack, they had become a little squashed in transit and Nigel found himself covered in strawberry juice, however they were still delicious and very refreshing if a little flat.  We then proceeded on in the glorious evening sunlight and the miles soon fell behind, passing Coltishall station and then on to Coltishall St James. 

The wildflowers were out in abundance all along the walk with red poppies, red campion, stitchwort, buttercups, ox eye daisies all out in full bloom and the Hawthorn blossom was particularly beautiful. We didn’t see many other walkers but plenty of cyclists passed us on their way to either Wroxham or Aylsham and we only saw 2 trains heading back to Aylsham. 

Both Tillie & Raven would suddenly dart off at speed in front of us thinking there was something interesting to chase in front only to see a blackbird or pigeon take off and desultorily flap away. At last we approached Belaugh green level crossing and we knew we were on the homeward straight.  And after about 4½ hours we arrived , dusty, hungry and dishevelled back at Wroxham where Annie was there to meet us. 

After all their hard work we chauffeured Tillie & Raven homewards in the dayboat where they enjoyed a short river trip back home. 

After a well deserved tuna tea, we didn’t hear a peep out of either dogs until the morning!

Thank you to everyone that sponsored us on our walk and at the moment the total stands at £552 which you will agree is a massive amount.

Raven update

You may remember Raven the black greyhound we were fostering for Action for Greyhounds UK, well two bits of good news, firstly he is fully recovered now, all wounds healed, most of his hair has grown back over his baldy bits (Nigel is well jealous being follicly challenged himself!) and now he has the most lovely shiny, glossy coat.   The second bit of good news is that he has at last found his forever home………….drum roll please……WITH US!!! 

We have decided to keep him as he is just about the most perfect greyhound you could wish for.  Seriously though, he has blossomed into the most loving, faithful, funny and handsome hound you could wish to meet.  Recently we have been letting him off the lead with amazing results, he actually has great recall. 

At the moment we are a three dog household as we are looking after Rocky who is back for his hols for a couple of weeks. 

Before that we looked after Sophie, a sweet little black greyhound whilst her owner went on holiday and in a couple of weeks we will be looking after Peg whilst her current fosterers go to New Zealand for a couple of weeks.  The only downside of keeping Raven is that we will not be able to long term foster anymore as taking three dogs to work with me is ok temporarily but full time sometimes is a bit hectic.  So for some people 13 is an unlucky number but for Raven Raisin it has been his lucky digit as he was the 13th dog we had fostered.

Seeing the Seals at Horsey

Following a busy sunny but blustery Saturday and having heard several reports from those boaters lucky enough to pass up stream of Potter Heigham Bridge, we decided to walk out from Horsey Mill car park to try to see the resident colony of Grey seals.  Previous attempts to view the local Horsey crane colony ended dismally so as we parked in the late afternoon sun we hoped for better luck.  Across the flat grazing marshes the wind died away as we crossed a couple of cattle fields toward the Nelsons Head pub that we fully intend to make use of on our trip on Royall Oak in June.  After a short stretch on tarmac, a footpath headed toward the sand dunes where we could see a narrow gap.

   

Here amongst the reedy, dyke fringed meadow, new born lambs skipped about their mothers and we climbed the soft sand through the gap and down onto the beach.  At first we struggled to spot the herd amongst the rock groins as even at close quarters they blend in, but a bit of shuffling and a couple of raised heads soon revealed them a short distance towards Winterton.  The herd numbered about seventy animals of various colours, greys blotched with black, black with grey and fluffy tan. 

Three or four seals swam alongshore and emerged our of the waves to shuffle up the beach, passing (we assumed) two huge black rearing bulls slapping each other with their flippers and biting.  The others higher up the slope took no notice, indeed one great beast lay completely comatose on his back.  Further on a similar sized herd also frolicked amongst the surf and slept.  Tillie and Raven were intensely interested but we kept them well back at the viewing platform provided although they could still hear the continuous moaning and slapping of the snoozing and fighting animals.

Crossing the dunes we descended from the viewing platform down some wooded steps onto a track leading back to the footpath and this is certainly easier going than the soft sandy beach, returning as the sun sank passed the pub and along the road which although noisier at least meant we did not have to lift the dogs over any field stiles.

The distance is difficult to judge, especially as I forgot my GPS , however we estimate a round trip of four miles, very well worth the effort.

T.E.D. the 2 campaigning greyhounds

I am a great fan of the Life sized Greyhound crochet pattern from Leonora Conlon of Aerie Crafts and have made quite a few of them.  Recently I have completed two rainbow coloured ones which were requests.  They are both going to be called Ted short for Totally Exploited Dog and are going to two campaign group whose aim is to bring about the abolition of greyhound racing -  Greyhound Action and my local group Action for Greyhounds UK.  They will be used on fund raising stalls, events and festivals that are held throughout the year.

  

Here they were having a meeting before going their separate ways – Not sure what relevance Mr Toad’s presence was but he is looking pleased with himself!

Hereford Hot-pot (vegetarian)

I made this in the week – lovely served with homemade bread. 

1 dsp sunflower oil

3 medium leeks, washed and sliced

1 large onion, sliced

325g/12 oz swede, cubed

225g/8 oz carrots, sliced

25g/1 oz plain flour

550ml/1 pint dry cider

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp yeast extract

1 small dessert apple, cored and sliced

175g/ 6 oz pre cooked red lentils

450g/1 lb potatoes, parboiled for 3 minutes and sliced

75g/ 3 oz cheddar cheese, grated

Salt and pepper

Serves 4.

Pre heat the oven to 180c/350f/gas 4.

Heat the oil in a heavy-based flameproof casserole and sweat the leeks, onions, swede and carrots over a low heat, covered with a lid, for about 15 minutes until softened a little.

Meanwhile in a small saucepan, mix the flour to a paste with a little of the cider over a medium heat. Gradually add the rest of the cider, stirring. Mix in the tomato puree, yeast extract, salt and pepper.

Chop the apple and add it to the vegetables in the casserole together with the lentils, then pour the cider sauce over. Arrange the potato slices on top, put tiny dots of the butter over them and scatter the cheese over the top.

Cover and bake for 1½ hours. Uncover for the last 30 minutes of cooking time to allow the topping to brown.

If it looks like getting too dry when you remove the lid for the last half hour, carefully add a little water in between the layer of potato and the side of the pan.